The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about negotiating a settlement to end the war in Ukraine as high-level talks began in Saudi Arabia, and that Russia would prefer to achieve all its aims peacefully.
Putin sent Russia’s army into Ukraine in 2022. He has repeatedly said he is ready to discuss an end to the war that reflects the reality on the ground, where advancing Russian forces now control nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Western intelligence, European leaders and former U.S. president Joe Biden have repeatedly asserted that they do not think Putin really wants peace, though U.S. President Donald Trump says he does think Putin is serious.
According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, “President Putin has been repeating his words about his readiness for peace talks from the very beginning,” he told reporters.
“Achieving our objectives is the most important thing to us. Naturally, we also favor using nonviolent methods to accomplish our objectives.
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Putin and Trump have not yet agreed on a meeting date, according to Peskov, but the discussions in Riyadh may provide some clarity. He claimed that since the discussions had only just started, it was impossible to provide any context.
Peskov stated that Putin had stated time and time again that he was willing to engage in specific negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
However, he added that any deal would need to consider a potential challenge to Zelenskiy’s legitimacy, referring to the fact that due to martial law in Ukraine, Zelenskiy has stayed in office past the end of his regular term.
According to Peskov, Ukraine has the sovereign right to join the European Union if it so chooses, but Moscow has a different stance on joining military alliances.
Moscow claims that one of the objectives of its so-called “special military operation” is to prevent Ukraine from joining the transatlantic NATO defense alliance, which it views as a security threat.
